Most students will have completed these four requirements
before starting their graduate programs. Students admitted in
spite of a gap in their background will be required to address it
during the first year of the program.

Earn at least 30 credits from MATH courses numbered 400 or higher, at most
6 credits of which can come from MATH courses numbered 400-499. These 30 credits
must include either 3 credits for MATH 589 (M.Sc. Major Essay) or 6 credits for
MATH 549 (Thesis for Master's Degree).

Mathematics students pursuing a Master's degree through the
Institute of Applied Mathematics face slightly different
requirements: details are provided on the
IAM web page.

Credit may be given for equivalent courses taken
before the student started a graduate degree program at UBC,
provided those courses were not counted toward another degree.

Students may also request that credit be given for appropriate
courses in departments at UBC other than Mathematics.

Complete 30 credits of approved graduate coursework.
(Credits from an M.Sc. program, either UBC or equivalent, are included.
Mathematics courses numbered 399 and below are not eligible.)

Pass the qualifying exam
within two years of starting the program. (See below.)

Pass a candidacy examination
in the student's field of specialization.
The examination syllabus is to be determined by the student's
Ph.D. committee with the approval of the Graduate Affairs Committee.
Passing this examination gains a student admission to candidacy.

Write a thesis and defend it in a public
oral examination
administered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Registration requirements:

A full-time Ph.D. student must register in at least 12 credits of
course work in the first year of their graduate program at UBC if they
have not completed a M.Sc. degree or if they were admitted directly to
Ph.D. after completion of B.Sc. degree. After being admitted
to candidacy, a student working on a thesis may register for
Math 649 with the approval of the thesis supervisor.

All PhD students are expected to take at least four graduate-level
courses, totaling at least twelve credits, at UBC as part of their program.
Courses counted towards
the 30 credits of approved coursework (#2 above) can also be counted towards
this requirement, if taken at UBC as a PhD student. These courses
cannot be reading courses; however, seminar courses with credit
will be considered separately as they become available, to
determine whether they can be counted in the requirement.

Every doctoral student at UBC must have, by
mandate
of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, a supervisory committee of at least three
members: the research supervisor and two others, typically UBC faculty with a rank of
Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor. PhD students in Mathematics
are expected to have a committee in place by the end of the first year of their
doctoral program at UBC. The committee is responsible for guiding the student's course
selection and research program, for administering the candidacy examination and the
final doctoral examination, and for providing other support and advice as needed.
You can read about the role
of PhD supervisory committees in more detail.

IAM Students:
Mathematics students pursuing a doctorate through the
Institute of Applied Mathematics face slightly different
requirements. Details are provided on the
IAM web page.

Students are expected to attend the weekly mathematics colloquium.
Mathematics students registered with the IAM are expected to attend the
Applied Mathematics colloquia.

The Qualifying Examinations ("Quals") are written tests on undergraduate material.
They are offered twice a year:

on the Saturday before Labour Day, in late August or early September;

on the Saturday after classes begin in January.

Precise dates and times for examination sessions will be posted well in advance on the
Events page.

The Quals are designed to:

help students integrate their knowledge of advanced undergraduate mathematics,

give students and supervisors an early baseline indication of preparedness,

guide students' course selections in cases where a weakness is identified,

allow well-prepared students to move into research more rapidly,

allay potential concerns regarding TA assignments,

define initial standards clearly and uniformly for prospective and new students.

All PhD students in the Mathematics Department, including those in the IAM, must pass the Quals before
their second year ends. (For example, for a PhD Student who started in September 2012, the last chance
to write the exam will be January 2014.) Doctoral students are strongly encouraged to attempt the
Quals immediately upon their arrival at UBC; those who do not are required to participate in the next
scheduled sitting.

MSc students are welcome to take the Quals as well, although it is not an official part of the Master's
degree requirements. The supervisor of each MSc student can communicate their personal policies concerning
the Quals. Note that a student who passes the Quals during their Master's degree and who is admitted into
the PhD program in this department will have already satisfied the PhD Quals requirement.

Both MSc and PhD Students may attempt the Quals any number of times, subject to the deadline for PhD
students of passing it before their second year ends.

To pass the Quals, a student must achieve a passing grade in two of these three exams, including a
passing grade in Analysis. Typically, students in the IAM will take the Analysis and Differential
Equations exams, while non-IAM students will take the Analysis and Algebra exams; however, the choice
of exams is up to each student.

Each exam lasts three hours. The Analysis exam runs from 9 AM to noon of the Saturday on which the
Quals are scheduled; both the Algebra and Differential Equations exams run from 1 PM to 4 PM on the
same day. A student may attempt either one or two exams on a given day as they wish; each exam can be
passed independently of the others. Students must inform the Graduate Program Coordinator well ahead
of time (at least two weeks before the August/September Quals, and before the Christmas break for the
January Quals) which exams they plan to attempt in a given sitting, so that the proper exam papers
will be present.

Each exam will consist of six problems, split roughly evenly between the subjects covered by the exam.
There will usually be significant overlap between the linear algebra problems on the Algebra and
Differential Equations exams in any given sitting.

The only two possible marks are "pass" and "fail". The passing mark is usually set at a score of 60%.
The Quals committee will make every effort to notify the students and their supervisors of the results
within one week of writing the exams. The exam papers themselves can be reviewed with a member of the
Quals committee. Exam papers are destroyed after two years.

The Candidacy Examination is a mandatory formal event to assess the student's readiness
to undertake research at the doctoral level. It probes the student's knowledge, problem-solving,
and communication skills through mathematical writing, oral presentation, and
interactive discussion.